It's Superman!

By: Tom De Haven

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Acclaimed novelist Tom De Haven recreates the early years of the Man of Steel - the world's most popular and enduring superhero.

Opening with the young Clark Kent on a date, the novel takes an entirely fresh approach to the emergence of his superpowers and the start of his newspaper career, following him from rural 1930s Kansas across America to Hollywood in its golden age and then to New York City. He meets a worldly Lois Lane and conniving political boss Lex Luthor, and begins his battles against criminal masterminds, mad scientists, and super villains inspired by fascists.

This fun and fast-paced novel of thrilling invention, heroic escapes, ill-fitting costumes, and super-sized, coming-of-age angst is sure to appeal to devoted fans.

©2005 DC Comics (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Comic noir with a super-keen edge, in De Haven's best book yet." (Kirkus Reviews)
"One of the finest interpretations of Superman in any medium." (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
"Delightful....De Haven's cartoon world will entertain readers for a long time to come." (New York Times Book Review)

Interesting view of Superman & life in the '30s

I am a Superman fan from the age of 2. When I tied a red towel around my neck, assumed the Superman pose of fists on hips, and pronounced in kid-speak, "I, Supe!" (Even have a photo my parents took that day on my desk!)

"It's Superman" is an interesting take on the Superman mythos. The author really humanizes Clark and places the character back in his roots of the 1930s, when originally conceptualized by Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster. The story shows the struggles of Clark as he evolves into Superman and the influences of his friends and family as well as the era helped mold him into the super hero he becomes.

My only critique and warning is the book starts slowly (for character development), but eventually gains momentum and becomes well worth the listen.

It's Sometimesman!

No spoilers...

The story sounded like Tom spent quite a bit of time researching the era and getting the speech patterns and details right. The quality of the writing is great, but the story left me wanting far more. I kept expecting more and more Superman and was disappointed almost every time.

I don't know how many other novels there may be on Superman and I haven't read any of them. I've only read the comics, watched the movies, cartoons, etc.

Reading the description of the book, I was lead to believe it'd be all about Superman. Following him from Kansas as it stated... We'll, I think it was less than 42% with him in it. It covered Lex, WIlly, Lois, all sorts of other things that I personally didn't care about. There wasn't too much on the finding out of his powers, it seemed more like he touched on it in passing.

Maybe I missed the point of this novel and maybe if I read other Superman novels it would be different. In my eyes, when you have someone like Superman you're writing about, people want to read about Superman.

Scott Brick, great job as always.

Excellent! But not for Kids at All

Fantastic and very original retelling of the Superman origin and legend. Very modern and beleivable; I truly believe "a man can fly" after this novel. Lots of details in character's names and locations that only a true Superman Fan (like me) would understand and that really makes it fun. Be warned, however, this is NOT a kids book, but it has be placed in the Audible Kids section. It is a very adult novel with adult themes and frank sexuality and language, including references to homosexuality; don't think that this is something you can play for your children to entertain them. They will get more of an education than you anticipated! I find it sad that because it is a "Superman" book, it was automatically placed under Kids Section; shows you how little most people really know about comics and comics characters and that the medium has both youthful and adult audiences.

Super start, mild mannered middle and super ending

It's Superman! Wait, you don't see him? Well, he doesn't  appear in costume till about ten hours into the book. Sorry, but it's true. This book is a re-imagined origin story, but the main plot features more of Lex Luther's raise to power and Lois Lane's exboyfriend Willy Bird until about halfway through the book.

That's not to say that there weren't any gems, here. The beginning was great and the ending was golden, but the middle simply stretched on to long. Even devoted Superman fans might feel tested. This book was so all over the place in subplots that the risk of becoming to bored to continue was a real threat.

The gritty atmosphere of the late 1930's and beyond was interesting, but it's value began to wear off after various chapters that don't seem to lead anywhere appear and fade away. Do we really need to know all about Louis Lane's former roommate's love life? How many henchmen does Lex Luther need and does anyone really need to know all about their life stories? Not necessarily.

Fortunately, all that fluff is thrown in there with the good stuff. After the slow bits, I loved some of the thought in other chapters. How did Clark Kent discover he was Bulletproof or how did he get his job at the daily planet newspaper? What was Clark like when he got upset?

Parents also be warned; This book is pretty adult or at the least, young adult . Remember the story was to re-imagine Superman's origin story in a 1930s setting, warts and all...and there were a lot of warts.

O.K.

This book was OK but definitely not anything special. The narrator did a good job for the most part, but sometimes his inflection or rhythm would bring you out of the story and focused on him. These are the times when he keeps repeating the word 'said' and while this is normal an unemphasized word he felt the need to overemphasise it.
The story really doesn't go anywhere and while I did care about the characters it wasn't because of this story but rather because I knew them from before. I guess it really did add anything to the characters and before listening to this book, all the reviews seemed to point that this book would change the story we knew and add to the excitement.
Well it changed the story but not in a memorable way at all.
With that said I did enjoy the 1930's setting and think the author and narrator did a good job sticking to the 30's, but it could have been great and not merely OK.

Good one for fans of Superman

I'm a big Superman fan and this take on him, while different, was entertaining and held my attention well. I think fans will enjoy the story.

Literary Superhero Fiction

This is a quirky sub-genre I've come to really love, and this novel is a good example of taking a classic, in fact THE Classic, Superhero out of the comic/graphic novel genre and into the world of words. Digging into the background, the inner world and feelings of Clark Kent before that's his "secret identity" to when it was his only identity, and the facts of his adoption are a bit...vague.

Intriguing

This version of the superman story is a wholly different twist and skips Superboy. The narrator's performance and the authors language emphasize the time. In both dialect and accents. I enjoyed the story and narration.

Amazing rendition

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. The story, although familiar in some aspects, showed depths of imagination and insight into both the upbringings and causation of Clark and Lex.

It’s a good read.

I like the story and writing. I love that it’s set in the 30’s. I do find it weird that it’s set in New York and not Metropolis. Something weird about the Superman characters being there.